New personal best

Today, I overcame yet another bout of lethargy. Yesterday, I managed to put down a very painful 850 words on my current work in progress, a short story called "Chemical Soup." We've been doing so much work around the house that I didn't have many ergs left for writing, yet managed to force myself.

Again, today, lethargy almost shackled me, but I forced myself to write. Now, two hours and change later, I completed both the story and my best single-session word count ever, 2199 words. (No, I'm not going to hunt for a word to insert for the nice number.) It feel's good to pound out the words that way, especially when I run out of story before I run out of vigor. The first 500 words felt as painful as yesterday's slog-a-thon. Once I got past there, the story just few out of my fingers. Ba-boom, the story's done. I'll give it the once-over tomorrow to clean it up, then I'll send it into the world on Monday.

Interestingly enough, the plot I started with never made it into the story, so I still have that one to write eventually. This one changed from a horror story about the dangers of experimenting where we arguably have no business, into an emotional character story about betrayal. Sometimes writing is funny that way.

Tarot anyone?

Mary Robinette Kowal found this fun web site that will tell you which tarot card represents you. This is what came up for me. I'm not sure how well it represents me, but here it is.

You are The Hierophant

Divine Wisdom. Manifestation. Explanation. Teaching.

All things relating to education, patience, help from superiors.The Hierophant is often considered to be a Guardian Angel.

The Hierophant's purpose is to bring the spiritual down to Earth. Where the High Priestess between her two pillars deals with realms beyond this Earth, the Hierophant (or High Priest) deals with worldly problems. He is well suited to do this because he strives to create harmony and peace in the midst of a crisis. The Hierophant's only problem is that he can be stubborn and hidebound. At his best, he is wise and soothing, at his worst, he is an unbending traditionalist.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Home Page Overhaul

I just did a serious revamping of my home page, as in a complete overhaul. I think it looks pretty good now. check it out at www.ricknovy.com and let me know what you think.

BRK/B

This week I finally broke down and purchased a share of Berkshire-Hathaway. Now, before you jump to any conclusions, I have to confess that I did not purchase the $108,000 A shares. I purchased a single $3500 B share. It's enough to get me Warren Buffett's shareholder newsletter and has a pretty good track record to boot. Hey, it's Warren Buffett.

Now if you'll excuse me *sniff* I have to make plans to attend the Berkshire-Hathaway shareholder meeting next May to exercise my 1/200th vote.

The Results Are In

Today, my daughter Audrey competed in the Arizona Flute Society young artists competition. This is her final year in the Debut (4th-6th grade) division. In 4th grade, she took the only honorable mention. In 5th grade, she took 3rd place. This year, in 6th grade, she tied for first place!

She played Haydn's Serenade, and played it well, despite the fact that her piano accompanist had to recover from having a page of music upside-down as a result of dropping the music. Audrey played on without missing a beat, allowing the pianist to jump back into the piece quickly.

A Big Hurrah

...for my friend and IGMS editor Ed Schubert. One of his stories was just nominated for an Edgar award, the mystery genre's equivalent to SF's Nebula award. You can see all the comments on his blog:

http://www.sideshowfreaks.blogspot.com/

Another Blog

The Scottsdale Republic is the local section of the Arizona Republic. I will be one of several community bloggers that will comment on local activity of all kinds, starting sometime in December. I am supposed to go for an orientation meeting on December 4 to see the software and hear the ground rules. I'll post a link when it goes live.

Sale - State Secrets

I just received an interesting rejection from Between Kisses. They like my story, but it's too long. They offered to buy it for their children's magazine, Beyond Centauri. Considering I planned to send it there next, it saves me the trouble.

Ben Bova

Not long ago, a speculative fiction magazine called Apex Digest needed help. Some writers banded together and held a successful auction to save the zine. I participated in the auction and won two prizes. One was an autographed copy of a book by Steven Savile. The other prize was a copy-edited manuscript of the U.K. version of Ben Bova's novel Titan. Dr. Bova used to be the editor of Analog magazine, and is a popular science and hard science fiction author.

Because Dr. Bova was going to be in Phoenix this month, he offered to meet with me and deliver the manuscript in person. Today was the day.

I met with Dr. Bova at The Poison Pen in central Phoenix, and arrived about ten minutes before his signing. He signed the manuscript for me without personalizing because I told him I would eventually auction it again at a SFWA charity auction. He also signed my copy of his pamphlet '10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Writing,' and also signed my copy of 'How to Write Science Fiction That Sells,' personalized for this one.

We had a pleasant discussion for about five minutes before he went back into the bookstore for his signing and I got back into the car for my drive back to work.

Ben Bova is a very pleasant man. I hope I have the chance to speak with him again.

The New Phone Book's Here!

Issue #3 of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show went live today. The cost is $2.50, which gives you permanent access to that issue (just like buying it off a newsstand and throwing it in the closet).

I have a very good collection of TOC-mates. Tim Pratt is an emerging big name. Orson Scott Card has a story in every issue. In addition, fellow Codexians Alethea Kontis, Oliver Dale, and James Maxey have stories in this issue. Brian Dolton I know from Hatrack, OSC's web site. It's almost a family affair here.

Looking back over the story, which I wrote nearly a year ago, I can see how much my writing has changed and improved over that time. This story seems very passive to me. I suppose we all grow.

http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=content&article=2006-october&template=3

Click on the "current Issue" hyperlink to see the table of contents and access the beginning of the story.